


And Then I Met You?

by Everydayfandom (Keicchan)



Series: And Then I Met You [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: A bit of drama, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Presents, Fluff, M/M, Memories, and fluff, but a lot of badassness, just a tiny bit of sadface sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 15:51:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10643079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keicchan/pseuds/Everydayfandom
Summary: Single parents Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood met one fated day outside of their kids' school and their lives changed forever. A glimpse into their past, present and future told through their Christmases.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lecrit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecrit/gifts).



> Hello my dears!
> 
> I've been planning to write this ever since I finished "And Then I Met You" last Christmas but I've been a little bit uninspired for the last few months. In the end, I've been writing on a notebook and that resulted in this!
> 
> I have to thank my friend Elyndys as usual, [Erika](https://twitter.com/Malec_Immortal) and [Eydis](https://twitter.com/KalenasBigSis) for the help! Thank you!!!
> 
> And of course, this is a gift for the amazing [Lucile](https://twitter.com/_L_ecrit). What can I say? Our birthday aren't that far apart which was, if I remember correctly, one of the reasons I messaged her a bit more than a year ago. In the same way, Lu was the first person I befriended in the Shadowhunters fandom. I have so much to thank you for, Lu! And I don't want to be a sap but I can't help it XD It's thanks to your encouragement that I kept writing, when it was only you reading PoM and we were talking through that chat on Tumblr. You've always been there to listen to me when I've been down. You've done more for me than you'll ever know. I love you and your incredibly brilliant brain, and plotting fics together has become one of my favorite things to do. I hope today has been amazing and this year continues to be amazing as you start your newest adventure. And of course all the years after that, I hope I get to still wish you a Happy Birthday then. But for now, Happy Birthday Lu! I hope you like this little thing❤ I love you ❤❤
> 
> This is going to be 4 parts, starting by Magnus' past :)
> 
> If you want to live-tweet or something, you may tag me or use #everydayfandom :D
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy it!! :D

_Magnus_

 

Magnus stared at the calendar in front of him. It was only a few weeks before Christmas, his first Christmas with Rafael, and he was completely and utterly overwhelmed.

In his life, Magnus had never really celebrated Christmas as a family, not in the traditional sense. The closest had been the Christmas dinners with Catarina, Ragnor, Raphael and Tessa, they’d been having for years now. Even after Rafael was born, he was too busy with the yoga studio to actually go visit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, telling himself that soon the business would settle and he would be able to take some days off.

Magnus loved organizing parties. Anyone that knew him would know that. It was something he was really good at and enjoyed doing. He had always been the one hosting the Christmas dinners, the birthdays, Halloween or any other random parties throughout the year. But organizing the perfect Christmas for a 4-year-old boy who had just lost his mother was definitely much more challenging.

So, from early November, Magnus had started buying all kinds of decorations, choosing the best place to get the tree come December 1st as well as researching the best events to go to during the holidays. It had been easy enough. Soon, Magnus had planned what he believed would be the most perfect Christmas ever. Even more perfect that the ones in those Hallmark movies, if he did say so himself. There would be anything one could ever want (all the things Magnus never really had growing up). And there would be presents. Loads of presents. Or so he thought.

As it seemed, finding the perfect presents hadn’t exactly been an easy task. Magnus had tried asking Rafael directly and he'd also suggested he write a letter to Santa, but neither of those had worked. Despite having grown closer over the last few months, especially after the incident at the mall, Magnus still felt Rafael wasn't completely comfortable at home.

It also didn't help that Magnus’ girlfriend at the time, Camille, wasn't particularly a fan of kids. He had tried as hard as he could to make things work for the three of them, setting up dinners at home, going out together… But nothing seemed to go the way he had planned. He was feeling increasingly frustrated.

By December 22nd each and every single one of his plans for Christmas had failed. Or in other words, Rafael had hated them. He had refused to go out to see Santa, going into his room and sitting in a corner crying his eyes out instead. He hadn’t liked the decorations Magnus had chosen, knocking some of the most expensive ornaments off the tree breaking them in the process.

Magnus had tried to be patient, after all, he knew what Rafael was going through, having lost his family at a young age too. But his stress levels were off the charts to the point where he had to cancel some of the yoga group lessons that he usually had in his studio. No amount of yoga could help him now.

“Have you found a present for Rafe yet?” Catarina asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Magnus simply scoffed and continued washing the dishes that had piled up in the last few days.

“I’m going to go ahead and take that as a no,” she said, sitting on one of the tall chairs behind the counter. “You do realize Christmas is like, in two days.”

He turned his head and glared at his friend. Magnus did know and he didn't appreciate being reminded, thank you very much.

“What can I do?” He put down the plate he had been washing since Catarina had arrived and sighed in defeat. “I’ve never been so off my game in my life.”

“Sure you have,” Catarina deadpanned and Magnus turned around to sprinkle her with the water left on his fingers. She made a sound of protest.

“We decided we would never talk about that again.” Magnus dried his hands with the kitchen towel he had hanging from the pocket of his jeans and walked around the counter to sit down next to Catarina.

“You’re overthinking,” she said as Magnus sat down. “And when you overthink, you overdo and when you overdo, things tend to get… messy.” She paused for a second before adding, “Simple is best.”

Magnus hid his face in his hands. “I just want it to be perfect,” he mumbled. Slowly, he looked at Catarina, resting his head on one hand.

“I know,” she said softly. She reached out her hand to touch Magnus’ cheek. “You know better than anyone that this is not what makes it perfect.”

Magnus nodded slightly and put his hand over Catarina’s. “I want him to be happy. At least for a little while before…”

He couldn’t finish the sentence. Soon it would be a year since Etta’s passing. Magnus knew it was going to be hard each year and that’s why he needed to work as hard as possible to create new happy memories for his son. Memories that in no way would make up for the fact that his mother was gone, but he would do anything to mitigate that pain as much as possible.

“You’ll figure it out.”

 

* * *

 

The next day, Magnus woke up feeling a renewed sense of purpose. Not that he had slept much. After putting Rafael to bed, he had started planning the next couple of days all over again.

Before Rafael got up, Magnus had already prepared his favorite breakfast, complete with orange juice, bacon and pancakes. He had decorated them to look like Santa, using some strawberries for the hat and cream for the beard.

Once everything was neatly set up on the table, Magnus went to Rafael’s room. The boy was still sleeping so peacefully that Magnus couldn’t bring himself to wake him up. He glanced at the time on the alarm clock on Rafael’s bedside table. Five more minutes wouldn’t kill anyone.

Magnus sat down on the floor next to Rafael’s bed and watched him sleep. He didn’t usually have time for this in the mornings, since all of his yoga lessons started bright and early, so he decided to stay there, probably longer than he had meant to, just enjoying the moment. Magnus reached out his hand, ready to wake the boy up, when he saw his little nose twitch involuntarily and he felt his heart clench in his chest. _“Just like your mum,”_ he softly whispered to himself as he caressed Rafael’s hair with his fingers.

It was little moments like this when Magnus could see just how much Rafael reminded him of Etta. He’d made sure to remember those details so one day, when Rafael was old enough to understand, he could tell him all about them. As long as his own mind didn’t fail him, Magnus would do everything in his power so Rafael wouldn’t forget about his mother.

Magnus looked at the clock once again and sighed. He rocked Rafael gently, trying to wake him up without startling him.

“Wakey, wakey my angel,“ he whispered when Rafael started to open his eyes, “I made your favorite breakfast.”

“Bacon?” the boy asked, still not fully awake.

“And pancakes.” A grin spread on Magnus’ face as Rafael seemed to immediately perk up.

“And ‘ _strawbabies’_?”

Magnus chuckled, nodding and leaning in to kiss Rafael’s forehead. “And strawberries.”

The boy grinned and jumped off the bed, running out of his room. “Come on papa!” he called. Magnus followed him to the kitchen and found him trying to climb up one of the chairs. He helped the boy up, sitting down on the chair next to him.

“It’s Santa.”

He pointed at the plate in front of them. Rafael raised an eyebrow. The cream had melted, soaking the pancakes, and it didn’t really look like anything anymore.

“It doesn’t look like Santa,” Rafael deadpanned.

Magnus pouted a little. He took his plate and put it in front of Rafael. Picking the strawberries, he arranged them again in the shape of a Santa hat. With the cream that he had taken out of the fridge, he decorated the hat and made the beard. When he had finished, Magnus looked at his son, waiting for his verdict.

“That’s better,” he said happily and started to eat some of the strawberries dipping them in the cream.

In no time, both of them were leaning against the chairs, plates empty and stomachs full.

“Papa,” Rafael said tentatively. When he got Magnus’ attention, he continued, “Can we go to the park today?”

Magnus thought for a second. Going to the park wasn’t part of the plans he had made for them for the next couple of days but after the last week of constant tantrums, this seemed like a good change. He wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

“Okay,” he answered with a nod. “Papa has to clean all this mess up first though.”

Rafael leapt out of the chair.

“I’ll help you papa!” he exclaimed, reaching out his hands and waiting for Magnus to give him one of the plates. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the gesture as he cleaned one of the plates and handed it to the boy.

“Thanks for your help Rafe,” Magnus said, patting Rafael’s head lightly. “Now go wait for me in your room while I finish and we can get ready to go.”

It didn’t take long for them to be on their way to their favorite park. Rafael was holding Magnus’ hand tightly, a habit he had picked up after that awful day at the mall a couple of months back. It broke Magnus’ heart a little that the boy seemed so afraid of letting go of his hand but at the same time, he didn’t want to let go either. If that experience had taught him something it was that he wasn’t going to let Rafael out of his sight, at least for the near future.

Just as they reached the park, Magnus felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He fished it out and looked at the name on the screen. Camille. He hadn’t talked to her in more than a week after a rather nasty experience they had had one night when she had come for dinner with him and Rafael.

If he was to be honest with himself, he had grown more and more apart from Camille from the very moment Rafael had entered into his life. No one could say he hadn’t tried to make it work but it just wasn’t and Magnus had begun to see a side of her that he hadn’t seen before, or had been ignoring for the last few years.

Magnus decided to ignore the call, letting it ring until she had given up. If it was ‘urgent’, she would leave a message or send him a text right away and he really wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. It was funny, in a sad way, how things had changed between them. They were both different people now, or at least he was. Having Rafael with him had changed him in ways he never thought possible and he was seeing things in a different light. Whatever it was, it was making Magnus question things he thought were a sure thing before.

Just as he had expected, a message came not a minute after the call had ended. He read it quickly. Camille was inviting herself to dinner that night which really wasn’t something Magnus had been counting on. He typed a reply as fast as he could with his free hand, not letting Rafael go until he was finished.

Even if he tried to conceal it, the bad feeling that he had about Camille unexpectedly tagging along for dinner must have shown on his face because as soon as he put the phone back in his pocket, Rafael pulled his hand to make him crouch down next to him. Without a word, the boy let go of his hand and wrapped his little arms around Magnus’ neck in a hug.

“What was that for?” he asked, picking the boy up and walking the rest of the way to the swings.

“Papa looked sad,” Rafael replied simply.

Magnus felt a lump form in his throat, tears stinging on the back of his eyes, threatening to fall.

“Well, papa isn’t sad anymore.”

He squished Rafael until the boy started squirming and protesting, trying to escape from Magnus’ tight hug. Magnus let him down and watched him as he ran towards the playground with the biggest and brightest smile on his lips.

 

* * *

 

The day went by in the blink of an eye and soon it was time for dinner. As soon as they stepped into the studio, Magnus regretted having said yes to Camille when she asked to come by for dinner. It had been such a good day with Rafael (which was quite rare lately) he didn’t want anything to ruin it. Especially not Camille.

But he had already agreed and it seemed like it was too late to cancel unless he wanted to deal with Camille’s wrath and, to be honest, he didn’t think he could handle it. So after giving Rafael a bath and taking a quick shower himself, Magnus left the boy drawing in the living room while he went to the kitchen to prepare something quick and simple for dinner.

As per usual, Camille had showed up almost an hour after the time she had originally told him. Magnus had waited for a little while, but after twenty minutes he thought she either had bailed or she wasn’t going to show up any time soon and Rafal was too hungry to keep waiting. After they had finished, they sat down to watch Rafael’s favorite show, practically forgetting that Camille could arrive at any moment.

When the doorbell rang, Magnus was very tempted to ignore it but, in the end, he went to the door to let her in.

“Hello darling,” she said, leaning to kiss him as she walked in. Without quite realizing it, Magnus turned his head to the side, avoiding her lips. “Don’t tell me you’re angry.”

Her tone was mocking, in a way, like he didn’t have any reason to be annoyed. If he wasn’t angry before, he sure was now. He opened his mouth to give her a piece of his mind but before he could say anything, he heard Rafael calling him from the living room.

“Give me a second,” he said briskly. She shrugged and walked away into the kitchen without a word.

Magnus picked Rafael up from the couch. “Let’s go to your room, angel.” He let the boy down and went to the door. “You can play with your toys for a bit. I’ll be back soon to read your book, okay?”

The boy nodded and sat down on the floor. Slowly, dreading every step, Magnus walked into the kitchen where Camille was waiting for him, sitting on a chair with her legs crossed and a glass of Scotch in her hand.

“Is he sleeping?” she asked, but she sounded distant and uninterested, like she was asking out of some kind of duty or obligation.

“He’s playing,” Magnus replied dryly, standing on the other side of the room. “It’s not his bedtime yet. But you would know that…” _‘If you cared’_ he had wanted to say, but he used the last bits of self control he had around her to stop himself. Afterall, Rafael was just a few feet away from them and Magnus wasn’t going to be the one to start a fight tonight.

“Anyway,” Camille said after a rather uncomfortable silence, completely disregarding Magnus’ words. She leaned seductively against the counter, playing with the glass in her hand. “Do you remember Christmas two years ago? When you ditched your friends’ dinner and we had that perfect romantic night?” She paused for a second, waiting for any sign of acknowledgement. Magnus frowned, slightly confused as to why she was bringing such a thing up now, but nodded nevertheless.

It hadn’t been one of his proudest moments, if he had to tell the truth. They had just started dating and Ragnor, Catarina, Rafael and Tessa hadn’t been exactly welcoming so, in what he admitted was a pretty lousy move, he didn’t show up for their Christmas dinner, ignoring their calls and messages for a couple of days. Magnus had regretted it almost immediately but he had been too proud to admit it then.

“Well, I was thinking,” Camille started walking towards Magnus, swaying her hips with every step. She reminded him of a leopard, elegant but always watching its prey. It was probably why he was attracted to her. She put her hand over his chest, running her fingers up and down. When she was close enough that their faces could touch, she continued. “I was thinking we could do it again. Forget everything and spend the night together. You and I.”

Magnus didn’t react right away, trying to make sense of the words coming out of Camille’s mouth. But soon they hit him fully. He covered her hand with his, pushing it away from him. The look on his face was of total disbelief.

“Are you being serious right now?” he asked, slowly taking a step back and letting go of her hand. “Have you finally gone insane?”

Camille let out a strangled squeak of outrage.

“Why are you being like this, Magnus?”” she asked, sounding slightly impatient. “You know we could have a lot of fun.”

“I know this probably comes as a surprise to you but,” he said, words coming out as harshly as he intended, “I have a son.”

“And? Surely one of your… friends,” Camille’s face contorted slightly as if the word had left a disgusting aftertaste in his mouth, “Can take care of him for the night.”

“Are you listening to yourself right now?” Magnus took another step away from her, trying to not raise his voice. “You’re asking me to leave my son with my friends on Christmas Eve, to go to some hotel with you?”

If anyone asked Magnus about tonight, he wouldn’t be able to exactly pinpoint the moment he had had enough but what happened next was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. Camille gave him a bored look and shrugged.

“We never spend time together anymore,” she said, turning around and walking towards the counter where she had left her glass. She took a long sip and looked back at Magnus. “Having an ordinary life doesn't suit you. It’s going to bore you to death. That’s why you never wanted to get married and have kids with that woman. One day you’ll wake up surrounded by bills and the stink of normalcy and you’ll regret it. That’s who you are. Don’t be a fool.”

Magnus stared at her in astonishment, letting everything sink in. Once he would have recognized himself in the words Camille had thrown at him but now they sounded foreign, almost like they were meant for a different person. He wasn’t that person anymore, maybe he never really was. The moment Magnus realized it was the moment the power that Camille had always had over him disappeared.

“In the end, you’ll always choose me,” she added, low and sultry as she moved closer again. The confident smile on her face made Magnus’ stomach turn.

“Get out of my house,” he said firmly, eyes fixed on her.

Camille stopped dead in her tracks, as if she had suddenly run into an invisible wall between them that she wasn’t expecting to be there. They stared at each other in silence for what seemed like an eternity, in a battle of sorts that neither of them was ready to let the other win. Magnus remembered all those times he had let himself be manipulated. Those times he had given up. This wasn’t one of those. He was determined and Camille could see it. With an indignant snort, she turned around, briskly picking up her things from the kitchen counter. When she was at the kitchen’s door she stopped to look at Magnus one last time.

“You’re gonna regret this.”

Magnus couldn’t suppress a smile. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

He didn’t move from where he was standing, his arms crossed over his chest as he saw Camille walking away dramatically. He stayed there until he heard the sound of the door closing behind her. That was it, and just like that, she was gone. The overwhelming wave of relief that hit him took him by surprise. It was a freedom he hadn’t felt in years, probably since the moment she came into his life. A freedom of spirit and soul. He felt lighter, inside and out.

Magnus took a glass from the cupboard and poured himself a drink, nursing it as he stared into space before taking a sip. A small, almost hesitant voice brought him back to reality.

“Papa?” Rafael whispered. He was nervously playing with the hem of his pajama shirt.

Magnus put the glass down and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The last thing he wanted was for Rafael to see him like that.

“Papa?”

Magnus turned, reaching his arms to the front.

“Come here angel,” he said tenderly, gesturing for the boy to come closer.

Rafael walked towards him and Magnus wrapped his arms around his little boy, hugging him tightly.

“Did Papa’s friend leave because of me?” The boy asked all of a sudden, the bluntness of it catching Magnus off-guard. He shifted a little, moving back to look at his son. “Will Papa leave too?”

“No,” he said straightforwardly, almost not letting Rafael finish. “Never. Do you hear me Rafe? I’m _never_ going to leave you. Never.”

The boy nodded a little and Magnus held him tighter.

“I love you Papa.”

Magnus kissed the boy’s forehead gently.

“I love you, too.”

 

* * *

 

Christmas Eve had started much better than Magnus had even expected. After what had happened the night before, it had been hard to get Rafael to go to bed. By the time he had finally fallen asleep it had been more than an hour past his bedtime which pretty much assured the boy either wouldn’t be able to wake up in the morning or he’d be in a terrible mood.

All Magnus’ worries vanished when Rafael (thanks to Ragnor, who had gone by the studio to help Magnus with the Christmas dinner) was the one waking him up by jumping on his bed mercilessly.

“I will never understand for the life of me how Catarina puts up with you,” Magnus said, groaning from his bed. He let out a grunt of pain when Rafael unexpectedly elbowed him right between the ribs after jumping on top of him for the millionth time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m an adorable puppy.” Ragnor was standing by the door, leaning against the frame with a shiteating smile adorning his lips.

“I might have to whack you over the head with a newspaper,” Magnus said, sitting up and catching Rafael midair, stopping the boy from hitting him in a lot less gracious place than his ribs. “She obviously doesn’t keep you on a short enough leash.”

“Uncle Ragnor has a leash?” Rafael asked innocently.

“No.”

“Yes,” Magnus answered, a smirk on his lips.

“Why?” the boy asked, sitting down next to Magnus, bouncing on the bed.

“Well, your uncle here is a ba…”

“Good Lord Magnus,” Ragnor exclaimed, interrupting his friend before he could say anything. He walked to the bed and picked up Rafael, taking him out of the room.

“What? What??” the boy yelled, clearly not understanding what was going on. “Where are we going?”

“Your dad is a very bad influence, Rafe.”

Magnus could imagine Ragnor shaking his head as he said that but he couldn’t make out what they were saying as they walked into the living room.

“I’m most certainly not!” Magnus yelled back, even though he knew they had probably not heard him. He let himself fall back on the bed, staying there for a few minutes before jumping off of it in one fluid move.

Magnus found Rafael and Ragnor sitting down on the floor, papers and color pencils out. The boy had started drawing something that vaguely resembled a house and was telling Ragnor all about it.

“This is the door,” he said, pointing at a big rectangle in the middle. “And this is the yard. There are swings!”

“Looks like a pretty big house,” Ragnor said softly. Rafael nodded enthusiastically.

“It’s very big.” He used his arms to gesture. “We were going to have a dog. I like dogs.”

Magnus pressed his lips together. He saw Ragnor looking up at him apologetically, probably feeling guilty for prompting it. Magnus shook his head. Right then, just as if he was waiting for the right moment to make an appearance, Chairman Meow walked quietly into the living room and sat down next to Rafael.

“I like Chairman Meow too,” he said when he noticed the cat staring at the drawing.

Rafael patted him a couple of times and the Chairman rubbed his head against Rafael’s hand, making the boy laugh. Magnus could barely believe how happy that sound made him, each and every time he heard it. Before he realized, a treacherous tear was running down his cheek. He quickly dried it with the back of his hand.

“Come on old man,” Magnus said playfully. “We’ve lots to do today.”

“Who are you calling old man. I’m not that much older than you.” Ragnor took a pencil from the table and threw it at Magnus who dodged it skillfully.

“You keep telling yourself that.”

Rafael let out a grunt in protest.

“I was going to use that,” he whined and sulked his way to the pencil, laying on the floor next to Magnus. “Stop playing with my pencils.”

“I’m sorry angel.” Magnus crouched down and gave him a quick hug. “It’s all uncle Ragnor’s fault.”

Ragnor was about to say something when he saw Rafael standing right in front of him, arms folded over his chest, waiting. “I’m sorry little bugger. It won’t happen again.”

The boy nodded and went back to sit down, leaving the pencil on the table with the others.

“Okay, let’s get to it.”

 

* * *

 

As the day went by, Rafael’s mood had gotten worse. He hadn’t liked what they had made for lunch and it didn’t seem like he was in the mood for any of the great recipes they had in mind for dinner. Catarina and Tessa had gotten to the studio right after lunch and upon seeing how things were going they had decided to take Rafael out to the park, giving Magnus a little bit of room to breathe and think.

To be honest, Magnus didn’t know what he would do without his friends. Last year had been the most challenging year of his life so far and he wasn’t sure he would’ve made it without their help.

Magnus decided to prepare something simple for dinner even if it really messed with his plans of having a perfect Christmas Eve. It didn’t help his nerves that the presents he’d finally gotten for Rafael weren’t there yet. It had been difficult to choose something for the boy but he had found the perfect gift and the shop was supposed to deliver it in the afternoon. Hopefully before Rafael was back from the park, so as not to further ruin Christmas for him.

But luck wasn’t on his side, of course. Even though he had sent a message to Catarina asking her to stay out a bit longer, Rafael came running around the corner of the hallway just as the delivery person was standing right outside the studio waiting for Magnus to sign for the packages.

Thankfully, Catarina’s quick reflexes saved the day when she saw the look of panic on Magnus’ face. At least for the moment. She pushed the boy inside, not giving him enough time to react and start asking questions. Magnus knew it was only a temporary solution though, since Rafael was a smart kid but he was going to hold off revealing the surprise for as long as he could. Which, in the end, wasn’t going to be very long at all.

Dinner went a lot better than expected. Raphael had joined them after getting out from work and after successfully distracting Rafe from the presents he had gotten a glance at before, it had been pretty much smooth sailing. Magnus had excused himself at some point to sneakily put all the presents under the tree while everyone was having dessert. As he was walking past the living room, pretending he was coming from the bathroom, he gasped dramatically.

“Well, look who came in here while we were having dinner!” Magnus exclaimed when he went back to his seat.

Rafael’s eyes went wide and he jumped off his chair, running to the living room.

“Aren’t you glad you chose yoga instead of acting?” Raphael asked with a smirk on his face.

“For your information, I was the best in my class.”

“I’m sure that’s what your teachers told you.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes, clearly not amused by Raphael’s comments. He was about to continue their banter when he heard the ruckus coming from the living room.

“Rafe, you can’t open those yet,” Magnus warned. The noise of presents being moved around didn’t seen to cease at his words however, so he hurried to the living room to stop Rafael.

When the boy noticed him there he suddenly stopped, putting his hands behind his back innocently.

“Rafe, you have to wait,” Magnus told him, his voice firm but gentle.

“But I saw these ones before,” the boy said, pointing at the two presents that had been delivered earlier. “When we came back home from the park.”

Magnus sighed. Of course Rafael wasn’t going to magically forget about the presents. He had been tempted to lie to him, tell him those weren’t his and change the paper while he was sleeping but he decided to go for a different approach.

“Well,” he started, “sometimes Santa makes a special delivery when he wants the presents to get a little early.”

“Can I open them then? Can I? Can I?” Rafael looked at him with big pleading eyes and Magnus knew he was doomed. There would be time to teach him to wait for rewards but today wasn’t going to be that day.

“I guess you can open those two,” Magnus conceded. He could hear a snort and a murmur coming from the kitchen. “You try!” he yelled for his friends to hear.

They all went to gather around Rafael who had taken the two boxes Magnus had told him he could open and put them in the middle of the room. He picked the biggest one first, wrapped in colorful rainbow paper, and unceremoniously ripped it apart.

“Sneakers!” he exclaimed as he opened the box.

“And they light up too.”

“Cool!” Rafael said excitedly. “I wanna try them on!”

Before Magnus could answer, Rafael was already kicking off his shoes.

“Not so fast, buddy!” Tessa said, reaching out her hands to tickle him and distract him for a second, while Magnus decided what to do.

“I was thinking we could go to see the big tree and do some ice skating later, would you like that Rafe?” Magnus asked.

“If we go, can I wear them?”

“Sure.”

“Yes!” Rafael made a little celebratory gesture and started putting the sneakers on.

“Do you want to open the other one too?” Magnus said, taking the smaller box and leaving it on the floor in front of the boy.

“Okay,” he replied, taking the box and ripping the paper just as he had done with the other present. “What is it?”

“It’s a music box,” Magnus  explained, taking it from his son’s hands and turning it upside down to wind it up. “It plays your favorite song.”

Magnus set it on the coffee table and gestured Rafael to open it. When he did, his favorite lullaby filled the room.

“Will you sing it to me Papa?” the boy asked wrapping an arm around Magnus’ neck.

“Of course,” he whispered, kissing his son’s cheek and singing the Spanish lullaby until the music box  had completely wound down.

 

* * *

 

After Rafael had put on his new sneakers, everyone picked up their jackets and headed out, braving the cold New York evening. Traffic on Christmas Eve was absolutely insane so they decided to take the subway all the way to the Rockefeller Center where the 76 feet Christmas tree and the skate rink were.

They had held off visiting the Rockefeller Center earlier, even if that night would be one of the most crowded. Magnus wanted it to be as special as it could possibly be and it seemed to be working. As soon as they got there, Rafael’s eyes lit up like Magnus had never seen before. Everything that led to that moment had been worth it, just to see the look on his son’s little face.

Magnus had made a reservation to be able to ice skate that night but since it wasn’t up for the next hour, they had decided to go into one of the coffee shops and get some hot chocolate to go. Once they all had their cups and after a little bargaining with Raphael and Ragnor who really wanted to stay inside until it was absolutely necessary, they went back outside, walking through the crowds to get as close as they could to the skate rink.

Rafael was holding Magnus’ hand tightly as he used to, pulling it to make him walk faster, while Magnus was trying the best he could to avoid bumping into the people around him, keeping an eye on both his son and the hot chocolate cup he was holding. They were almost at the side of the rink when a tall man carrying a small kid in his arms walked into Magnus, making him spill some of the chocolate on the man’s coat.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Magnus said, pulling Rafael towards him while he tried to take out a handkerchief he had in his pocket. “I just… I’m really sorry.”

The young man shook his head.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“Just let me…”

Magnus used his handkerchief to try to clean the man’s coat, only to smudge the hot chocolate even more. The man took the handkerchief from Magnus’ hand.

“Papa, let’s go! Come on!” Rafael protested. The crowds were moving around them, pushing them from side to side.

“It really is fine,” the man repeated with a hand gesture.

“I… Again I’m really sorry.” Magnus apologized one last time before following his son into the crowds.

Only a couple of hours later, when it was almost midnight on Christmas Eve, did Manus realize he never got his handkerchief back.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading  
> I hope you liked it :D
> 
> You can visit me at [Tumblr](http://everydayfandom.tumblr.com) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/everydayfandom). Say something :D I don't bite!


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